Waterlogged Love Notes
by Cyprith
Summary: They’re so similar, crystals and bubbles, it would be a crime to keep them apart. JxS


Title: Waterlogged Love Notes

Author: Kytten

Pairing: Jareth/Sarah

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Summary: They're so similar, crystals and bubbles, it would be a crime to keep them apart.

Author's Note: Came to me in the bathroom. Go fig. And I've got a stellar idea for a Valentine's Day fic, so there should be another after this. Hopefully I'll have it up later today... _hopefully_.

* * *

Waterlogged

* * *

Sarah was exhausted and filthy and she did _not_ want to deal with _anything_ at the moment, much less the goblins rampaging about her house.

Jareth thought he was so bloody clever. Thought she wasn't smart enough to realize that she hadn't actually been eating the ton or so of food that went missing every week. Or maybe he didn't realize the stupid twits were doing it. But then, seeing as how he was the king of the lot, that made him a stupid twit too, didn't it?

Among other things, Sarah was also cranky.

* * *

She shouldered through the door of her apartment, locking it behind her and dropping her keys on the coffee table.

Refusing to notice the half melted ice cream she hadn't taken out that morning, and the pile of crackers that had _magically_ made their way into her bed, she trudged on into the bathroom.

For a moment she stood there, looking at her own tired eyes in the mirror. And then, leaning back against the wall, eyes on the ceiling, she gave whatever goblins still remained fair warning.

"If you don't want to be fed to Merlin bit by bit, you will leave _now_."

Merlin, hearing his name, lifted his shaggy head from the arm of the couch. Seeing only a few small, dull shapes skittering out from the open bathroom door, he lay back down with a huff.

Sarah sighed and shut herself in, heading for the comforting blanket of a hot bath.

* * *

A cap full of soap, the label said. She eyeballed it and ending up dumping out a good quarter of the bottle. Finding it hard to care at this point, she made sure the water was hot enough to boil a horse before slipping in with a contented sigh to lean her head against the side of the tub.

Sarah closed her eyes to the rather determined bubble that pulled from the rest, only to pop and drop a crisp bit of paper right through her lovely lavender bubbles.

Picking it up, Sarah eyed it warily.

_Bad day?_ It asked.

The note hit the tiles with a sodden squelch.

"Not. Today." She bit off and closed her eyes again.

Another bubble.

_My, my. Aren't we in a mood? That's hardly the way to treat royalty._

"I'm going to be royally pissed off in a minute." She snapped, sending the second to meet the fate of the first.

_Poor baby. What's happened?_

The sarcasm was staining her water an odd shade of blue. Or maybe it was the ink. Didn't matter. Sarah flipped that one out as well, wincing when it's snack was particularly sodden. She'd have a mess to clean up when she got out. Especially if the ink was running.

_Sarah?_

This one managed to hit the garbage can, though it was a long shot and she wasn't at the best of angles.

"Your stupid goblins are ravaging my apartment, Jareth." She glared with one eye, an impressive feat. "And if they break anything important, I swear, I will personally track you down and strangle the life out of you."

_Then I imagine you'll be at it for a while. Have my pets broken anything yet?_

A jarring crash that sounded like her cookie tin punctuated the arrival of the note.

_No need to answer that._

"Why are they even here?" She stared up at the ceiling, not having a better place to look.

_Because they want to be?_

"That's not an answer and you know it."

She could _hear_ him laughing.

_You made a lot of friends when you ran my labyrinth, love. I can't help it if they're fond of you. If you remember, I _did_ try to warn you._

"Bullshit." She pursed her lips in an endearing show of annoyance.

_If you like, I'll order them back._

"As if it does any good."

_You wound me, Sarah._

There was a sudden, blessed silence outside her bathroom door. Sarah sank down a little further in the mountain of bubbles, relieved.

_Did you get the part you were after?_

"I refuse to speak to you."

_Come now, after I've so generously put myself out for you?_

"I'm going to put out your eye if you keep at it." Sarah hissed and closed her eyes. Go ahead. Let him keep writing. She didn't have to read it.

A small smile graced her features as two more notes hit the water. She let them sink, the picture of indifference.

"You know, there are some who consider it a common courtesy to answer the questions put to them."

Sarah opened an eye to find that not only was this not her bathroom, but Jareth was sitting about five feet away with a pad of paper on his knee. Whatever reaction he was expecting, he was sorely disappointed. Sarah only closed her eyes again.

"Would those people happen to be goblins?"

Jareth laughed.

"You're certainly spitfire today. What happened?"

"I refuse to speak to you here."

"Then I'll have to join you in there."

Sarah opened an eye again to find Jareth looking at her in amusement, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

She didn't react.

"Have it your way." There was a smile in his voice as the shirt hit the ground.

Sarah still didn't react. She was going to enjoy her bath no matter what.

Something sounding suspiciously like boots hit the ground not too long after. And still, she kept her eyes firmly closed.

A clink of metal on marble and the water was sloshing dangerously about the tub, threatening to send tiny oceans skittering across the floor. But it settled as he did and Sarah leaned back into his arms, perfectly content to rest her head against his shoulder.

"You know," she said at length, a secret little smile playing at the corners of her lips. "If you'd wanted a cuddle, you had only to ask."

* * *


End file.
